The present invention refers to some improvements in fodder distribution conveyors, which can be used in a great variety of farms with stabled animals, in order to automate the distribution of food.
Fodder distribution conveyors, which in general are equipped with an endless cable, or endless chain, are already known. Both the chain and the cable have a plurality of transverse dragging means, also called disks or scrapers, which move along a channel or a pipe, with outlets for the unloading of a portion of fodder into other pipes, or similar, which carry the respective fodder portions to a respective device for their sharing-out into cells, or else the unloading is carried out directly in the latter. These fodder unloading areas to the corresponding cell, are called receiving stations.
In the known conveyors, the chain or the cable, with their transverse dragging means, move according to a closed path which extends from a fodder entry station and passes by the receiving stations in which the product is unloaded through the pipe outlets, or, where appropriate, the channel. The movement of the cable or chain is obtained by means of a driving wheel.
Furthermore, the type of driving wheel equipped with a single-piece peripheral toothing, between whose teeth engage the disks fixed to the cable or chain as the wheel turns.
In the known conveyors of the described type, there is a drawback in the lack of constancy of the effective pitch of the disks, or, in other words, of the distance or separation between each pair, due to both the wearing of the disks on their rear sides against which the driving pulley""s teeth act and because of the stretching of the cable or chain itself, particularly when its development is relatively large (which happens in medium-large or large systems).
In the European patent No 82802980, publication No 89362 by Dahl and Dall, known conveyors at their deposit date are described, basically coinciding with what has been described herein, the characteristic of the object of said patent being that the driving pulley of such conveyors is circumferentially smooth and has an external configuration, in transverse cross-section, determining a friction coupling between the pulley and the portions of the corresponding disks which couple to the pulley periphery, there being means for tensing the cable or the chain around the driving pulley. As another feature, it is also envisaged that the driving pulley is formed with a hollow (in the form of a channel) in order to receive approximately one half of each disk and to couple the disks by friction in portions being almost diametrically opposite in each one.
Nevertheless, the solution proposed in the quoted European patent suffers from the drawback of the wearing out of the peripheral areas of the pulley which come into contact with the disks and from a relatively strict or critical adjustment of the tolerance between said peripheral areas and the disks in order to ensure enough friction during the movement of the cable or the chain and their disks, which avoids their slipping with respect to the driving pulley.
Fodder distribution conveyors equipped with the improvements object of the invention, are of the type which have an endless cable or chain, with a plurality of transverse dragging means and which move along a conduit, with outlets for the unloading of corresponding portions of fodder, the cable or chain moving, thanks to a driving wheel provided with a peripheral toothing, between whose teeth the transverse dragging means engages.
These improvements are characterized in that the driving wheel is made up of a disk joined to a driving means and by a series of replaceable teeth, mounted around its periphery; and in that each tooth is made up of two parts determining an upper longitudinal axis channel solely for the passage of the cable or the chain.
They are also characterized in that each tooth is mounted in a tilting fashion on the driving wheel disk and in that in its interior it has an elastic means.
Likewise, they are characterized in that each tooth has a conical face and another flat, against one of which the respective transverse dragging means of the rear face, conical or flat, can abut.
The improvements in the fodder distribution conveyors according to the invention contribute, among others, the following advantages with respect to the prior art:
a) The teeth are replaceable unitarily, with the resulting saving with respect to known toothed wheels, which are of a single-piece and must be completely substituted in the case of one or more of the teeth being damaged.
b) In order to adapt a driving wheel according to the invention to the needs of each case, the necessary teeth will be fitted onto a disk of a specific diameter. Substituting the disk of a given driving wheel for another of a convenient diameter, a specific driving wheel can also be adjusted to the variations that may occur during the life of a specific installation in order to maintain the optimum operating conditions.
c) The manufacture of the driving wheel according to the invention is facilitated, in that, being made up of a disk or similar with replaceable teeth, its obtainment is independent for each of the two basic components, for which the disk can be obtained from a metallic material, for example, making a great diversity of shapes and colours possible. In addition, both the disk and the teeth can be of the same or different plastic material and the same or different colours. Moreover, as it can be obtained in relatively significant quantities and with light but resistant materials, it is all at a relatively low cost.
d) Each tooth will be able to be fitted onto the wheel in a tilting and preferably, elastic fashion, which makes it possible to continue transmitting the necessary effort to the cable and chain disks for their movement throughout the installation. Thus, the elongation of said cable or chain is compensated for and the wearing of the disks"" rear sides, apart from providing a cushioning effect against possible negative strains and maintaining a certain mechanical tension to the cable or to the chain.
e) The teeth will be able to work on one or other of the two sides, for the purpose of which one shall be rounded, and the other flat for a line with disks with at least its rear side flat. In each of the two cases all of the wheel""s teeth will be arranged, in the same position of course, passing from one position to another just by fitting the teeth in the required direction. As a result of all this the driving wheel has great versatility as it can be applied to the types of disk lines described, currently existing in the market.
The improvements in the fodder distribution conveyors, object of the invention, offer the previously described advantages, as well as others which will be easily deduced from the embodiment example of the same described below, in order to help in understanding the features shown earlier and, at the same time, disclosing several details of the same, for the purpose of which some drawings are enclosed only by way of non limiting example of the scope of the invention, a practical example object of the same being shown therein.